Even after the full-on first day of drinking and partying, we were up and in bright and early for the first band of the day, Blind Channel. Despite being by far the cringiest band from a lyrical standpoint on the bill, they are a lot heavier live. It very much worked in their favour. The duel vocals worked well, especially with one being on the harsher end half the time. And despite the earliness, they pulled a pretty decent, interactive crowd. Of course the highlights were the two last tracks, their amazing Anastasia cover and 2021 Eurovision entry. However, the whole setlist was good! I’d happily see them again!

After yet another complete overhaul of their lineup, Filippa Nässil’s Thundermother are back. Though she seems a little… tricky… to work with, all four band members put on a great show here. I know anyone in the NWOCR scene reading this will probably still have a sour taste in their mouth about the band, but they really are representing the style and genre well on a huge international stage. They ripped through a great set of new and old tracks, and played with the swagger of an 80s hard rock band. Good stuff!

I managed to convince my fiance to let me get my thrash on for a bit with Pro-Pain. I loved it. They were heavy, they were fast and they were damn entertaining and fun. They don’t get anywhere near as much credit as they deserve. Tracks like ‘Deathwish’ and ‘Voice of Rebelion’ hold up against a lot of the top thrash/groove metal tracks from the 90s onwards. And they translate perfectly live. The crowd loved it, I loved it, and the band seemed to love it too. A great set!

Another highlight of the whole weekend, because of course it was, was Fever 333. Jason has long been known to be one of the best performers in rock and metal, and that was on full display here. Throwing himself (and his mic, please god stop launching them, they’re expensive! That poor sound guy) around the stage constantly. Standing up the monitors, and even stacking them on top of each other, to stand on and jump off. Crowd surfing while still singing. Heck, he even went out through the crowd and climbed up the sound stage, partying with the VIPs up on top of it for the last track. And his vocals are ever impressive, too. Be it singing or screaming his lungs up, you feel and hear the passion and emotion of every single syllable. He’s one of the few that still maintain a feeling of swagger and danger to him, a trait even a lot of hardcore bands have lost these days.

I don’t want to take away from the rest of the band, too. After the mass exodus from Fever last year, I was curious to see who he’d recruit to join him. The three of them didn’t disappoint. My only complaint is that at times they seemed like they were trying to match Jason’s energy. It felt like there was just too much going on all at once. All of them definitely stood out at times, but when you have Jason as a frontman you have to learn to take a bit of a backseat at times. Still, they all played the tracks perfectly, and the setlist was the perfect blend of aggressive, call-to-arms tracks. The message behind their music is important and emotion and very needed, and they preached it perfectly on Friday. For anyone who hasn’t, or has, go out and see this band as soon as you can!

Now, we all have to admit something together. Asking Alexandria are incredibly inconsistent live. I had friends tell me that they were amazing and on top form at Download the weekend before. However, at Graspop, Danny was nowhere near on form. I don’t know why they’d put ‘The Final Chapter’ in the setlist if he can’t scream it any more, leaving the crowd to do it. Especially when the guitarist (that they hid in the back next to the drums probably for this very reason) was doing the screams while Danny mouthed along to it. But then they’ll do that but not play their arguably biggest song, ‘Not the American Average’, I imagine due to Danny’s vocals.

The rest of their set, I imagine in part due to the weird placement of the band members, lacked any sort of energy and interaction and, well, fun. Much like Guns ‘N Roses the night before, it felt like a very run of the mill, manufactured set. It’s a shame as well because I grew up loving the band and have heard they can be a lot better than this. Oh well.

At least Airbourne brought some manic energy back to the day. It definitely picked the mood and spirits back up. I’m a pretty big fan of the band, having seen them a good handful of times, but it had been a few years until this point. So, while they were still very entertaining to watch and still sounded polished live, it was a little bit of a letdown to see them doing the same things years later. As fun as it is watching Joel get walked around the crowd on a security’s shoulders and smash a beer can on his head, it’s the same routine as he’s been doing for close to a decade now. I’m sure if it’s the first time seeing them it’s a lot of fun and a spectacle to watch, but for a returning fan it fell a tad flat. Still, they sounded great and put on a good show!

We headed back over to the Metal Dome for almost local lads The Answer. I’ve been a fan of these guys for a good decade and have somehow never seen them live. It strikes me as a little odd that I came all the way to Belgium to see an Irish band for the first time. However, they did not disappoint. The crowd were pretty into it too which was nice given the lightness of them. The crowd were there for a good, folk-rock time and that’s exactly what they got. Nothing flashy or fancy, just a fun, straight up rock show!

Amon Amarth never fail to disappoint. I’ve seen them a few times now and they seem to get better and better every time. I think finally seeing them in a European market where they’re bigger also helped. Their stage-show gets more spectacular each time. Now they have a big ‘ol viking helmet as a drum riser, two big longship bows shaped like dragons that spit fire, and even a giant inflatable sea serpent. And sonically they sounded excellent as always. Rattling through an awesome collection of old classics and a few from the critically acclaimed latest album, I loved every minute of it. With shows like this, they need to be headlining everywhere!

Disturbed were up next, and put on one of the best sets of the weekend. Despite David Drainman suffering from vocal issues, you couldn’t tell at all. His voice sounded just as powerful and solid as ever. It’s also hard not to bring up his now widely publicised emotional speech. Despite me knowing about prior still brought me to tears. It’s so hard not to route for the guy as he seems like a genuinely good man. And to know that music is such a powerful outlet for people is amazing.

The rest of the band were of course phenomenal, too. I still hold the opinion that John Moyer is the most criminally underrated bassist alive today, and he showed his amazing skill throughout. Meanwhile Dan Donegan and Mike Wengren held down the rest of the music masterfully. And their setlist was perfect, too. Between the highlights of the new album, old classics like ‘Ten Thousand Fists’ and not one but two epic covers, it was definitely one to remember. While a lot will focus on ‘A Reason to Fight’ and the speech (and rightfully so), the whole set was amazing.

I cannot think of more deserving headliners than the two bands on Friday night. First up were the mighty Gojira. One of the most talented bands in the world have gone from strength to strength with their last couple of releases. They’ve climbed slowly up every festival bill and rightfully earning their slot. They also capitalised on this, playing a set heavily filled with newer tracks. Whether it was new favourites like ‘Amazonia’ or Magma epics like ‘The Cell’, there was a lot of their newer work. However, we still got the likes of ‘Backbone’ and ‘The Art of Dying’ thrown in for good measure, too.

The band didn’t do a whole lot in the way of talking but they didn’t have to. Their music speaks for itself and the backdrop of the screen did amazingly to enhance tracks like ‘The Cell’. A set worthy of headlining and one that will surely cement them as a huge name moving forward.

Closing the night were Machine Fuckin’ Head. What an insane decade they’ve had. As Rob Flynn noted, this was their first European festival appearance in 11 years (because Bloodstock doesn’t count apparently?). I was at Download back in 2012, one of the last ones they did, and it was a whole other ballgame. For one, the line-up aside for Flynn is completely different. They’d just come off two incredible, critically acclaimed albums yet a mediocre arena run, and felt like they deserved more than they got (I agree). Since then band members have fallen out with Rob, he put out a bad album and that awful dis track on his own fans. However, they have always been good live. And, since then, have put out a VERY good album last year, a return to form.

So, while I was a little shocked at the announcement that they’d be headlining, it was what Rob has wanted for years and I was definitely excited. Unlike Gojira, Machine Head instead opted to perform a setlist spanning their whole career (almost). Opening on the call to arms that is ‘Imperium’ was a fantastic choice, before launching through tracks new and old. I was shocked to hear the likes of ‘From this Day’ and ‘Crashing Around You’, but they worked amazingly well here. And we still got heavy hitters like ‘Locust’ and ‘Davidian’ too to add to it all.

My only complaint is that there wasn’t a single track off Bloodstone and Diamonds, which is my favourite Machine Head album, but I kinda see why. Honestly though, the highlight was just seeing Rob’s reaction. He was happy and smiling throughout, despite the crushing heaviness of their music. Rob was a completely different man than I have seen him in the past. He was happy and glad to be playing his songs. And ,the band as a whole put on one of the best shows of the weekend. They more than earnt their slot. Hopefully this won’t be the last major festival they headline. C’mon Download, be a lamb…